Friends Bid Farewell To Kathleen Wright

Kathleen Cooper Wright would have wanted to say her own farewell, the Rev. Sylvanus Regisford said.

The message would be one of hope.

Regisford, speaking before hundreds at funeral services Saturday for Mrs. Wright, suggested what the community leader and teacher would have told family members and friends:

``Together, my husband and I instilled in our children a hope for a better life for all . . . whoever they may be, black or white.``

She would have added, he said: ``Fight on! Tomorrow can be far better.``

Mrs. Wright would have spoken, he said, ``in her own confident, poised and neighborly way, which put the listener immediately at ease, and which sought to reassure.``

Mourners filled the pews, aisles, doorways and choir loft at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, four days after Mrs. Wright, 49, died of injuries she suffered in the Aug. 2 crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 191, which claimed 135 lives.

Her husband, Broward County Judge Zebedee Wright, and three children, Ronald Pierre, Anthony Duane and Lauratte, sat quietly beside her casket, surrounded by relatives who offered their arms for comfort and support.

Regisford, of St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, which Mrs. Wright had attended since her birth, assisted at the service and gave the homily.

Mrs. Wright was a Nova University professor, former Dillard High School teacher and, in 1974, the first black elected to the Broward School Board. She served on the board until 1982, when she launched an unsuccessful campaign for the state Senate.

Colleagues said that during her time on the board she did more to give blacks an equal opportunity in Broward schools than any other member. She was a prime mover in a struggle to set up affirmative action guidelines so more women and minorities would be promoted in the system.

Mrs. Wright also was active in Delta Sigma Theta, a national sorority of professional women, and had taken Flight 191 on her way to a Dallas convention of the group.

``(Her death) is a loss to the community, and I`m really going to miss her. She can`t be replaced,`` said Ethel Morrison of Lauderhill, who, along with other members of the sorority, dressed in white for Mrs. Wright`s funeral.

``She always had a kind word. I used to say to her, `Oh, I`m so tired,` and she`d say, `You can do it, Ethel.` ``

Retired Episcopal Bishop Ervine Swift, who officiated at the funeral, also wore white, a church symbol of hope and resurrection.

After the ceremony, a two-mile procession of cars slowly crossed Fort Lauderdale, from the church near East Las Olas Boulevard to Sunset Memorial Gardens at Northwest 31st Avenue and 19th Street. A large number of police officers held back traffic.

When the crowd finally reached the cemetery, Mrs. Wright`s casket was slowly lowered into the ground. Family members, sobbing, clutched flowers taken from arrangements arrayed around the grave.

Her husband then brought forward a bouquet that was dropped onto her casket as a final farewell.